From Too Many Chefs - www.toomanychefs.com

January 20, 2006

Thai Peanut Butter Sandwich

Earl of Sandwich, meet the King of Siam. Yes, I'll answer your first question - I have gone mad! Mad for the taste of peanut butter!

In this post-Holiday world, many of us are being frugal, taking lunch to work, brown-bagging it as it were. But the old staples get... old. If you can't stand another plain peanut butter sandwich, give this Thai-inspired sandwich a try. You can certainly adjust the ingredients to reflect your tastes.

And what ingredients! Peanut butter (of course), coconut flakes for sweetness and flavor, lime juice for tartness and to brighten the mix, "rooster sauce" for heat, cilantro for freshness, and just a little milk or soy milk to loosen the mix up and make the protein in the peanut butter more available to your body, ginger! garlic! - what doesn't this sandwich have?

Actually, I might try adding thinly sliced scallions to the next batch, but we had none at home at the time.

I served this with a dollop of orange marmalade for "dipping". You could make it into a PB&J instead by putting the marmalade in the sandwich, but go easy on the sweet spread.

Heat the peanut butter in a microwave in a bowl until it softens up a bit, but isn't blistering hot. You should be able to stir it with a little effort.

Mix in the rest of the ingredients into the peanut butter, and mix well. If you are using coconut milk instead of flakes, you may not need to add the soy or cow's milk. The purpose of the milk is to loosen up the mix a little so all the ingredients mix well. I just didn't want to open a new can for such a small amount of liquid.

Taste and adjust flavors. It should "feel" Thai. Of course I doubt anyone Thai has ever made a sandwich of a mix like this, but we're going for something like what a 1970's American school lunch Thai dish would be if such a thing had ever existed.

Toast the bread and spread the peanut butter mix on the toast. Slap two slices together, cut in half and serve.

Comments

"but we're going for something like what a 1970's American school lunch Thai dish would be if such a thing existed."

You know--early in the morning, sans coffee--that line struck me as both brilliant and absurd.

I have to admit that at first, as I read this post, I was utterly repelled. And then, as I read along, I got sucked in and found myself nodding, and then, I suddenly wanted to make this for breakfast.

You know, but instead of marmalade, for the jelly bit--I would use that Thai bottled barbeque sauce made for grilled chicken--it is basically a very spice reddish-pink sweet and sour sauce that I think of as "Thai chile jam."

I'd cut down on the Rooster (the most sacred of hot sauces, yeah and verily) and add some of that Thai chile jam, and man--that sounds way good.

I be it would be even better on toast. Oh-and I might be tempted to thin it out with coconut milk--if I had some laying around. Which, in this house, sometimes even happens.

Great post.

Geez. I really need to creep off and get coffee.

You did toast the bread.

Ai ya.

I am personally a big fan of the peanut butter and salsa sandwich.

Posted by on January 20, 2006 at 6:52 AM

Barbara, The Redhead was out when I made the peanut butter mix, and looked at me very skeptically when I told her what it was.

She ended up giving it a try and loving it, though she would use less of the rooster sauce, too. Hey, I like it hot, what can I say? Her description of the recipe was "a grown-up peanut butter and jelly", and she used apricot jam instead of orange marmalade.

I've been given the green light to continue my mad-science experiments with the pb&j.